Group IT is a key example of how Volkswagen is reshaping its production IT, its management structure, culture and even its business model.

In the past two years, the department has been ramping up its investment and implementation of IT projects as well as reorganizing to deliver IT services and innovations through a stronger matrix organization – one which is both integrated as a central management team at Volkswagen Group, but also distributed across the company’s brands and major regions.

For vice-president and group chief information officer Martin Hofmann, who has led Group IT at Volkswagen since 2011, the changes reflect how IT has shifted across the industry from being the “order takers” in a support function, to driving core business decisions.

“We are at the forefront of business transformation. We develop and bring in new technology, we shape standards and collaboration,” he says. “The responsibility and requirements have increased, and so has our need to be more proactive.”